To some people in France or French-speaking countries, text messaging has morphed into something of une langue en elle-même (a language in itself)!

To make sure you are au courant (aware) of this emerging “texto/SMS” lingua, I have compiled for you a few “must-know” abbreviations that you’d be sure to see in a French text message, or even while chatting on Skype, MSN, or Facebook !

Voici donc une petite liste (So here’s a short list):

* A+ or @+: means “À plus“, like “later”, or “l8r”.
* ALP: “À la prochaine“: Next time.
* ASV: “Âge, Sexe, Ville“, the equivalent of the English “ASL”, or “Age/Sex/Location”.
* ATT: “à tout à l’heure“, as in “see you pretty soon”.
* auj: Abbreviation for “aujourd’hui”, meaning “today”.
* b1sur: “Bien sûr“: Of course. The “1”, “un“, makes up for the syllable “-ien.”
* bcp: “Beaucoup“: Very much, as in “merci bcp” (thanks a lot).
* bjr: Just short for bonjour !
* bsr: Short for bonsoir !
* C or Cé: Stands for “C’est”, meaning “It’s” or “it is”.
* c-a-d: “C’est-à-dire”. It means “it means” (really, no joke…)
* cho: “chaud”, that’s “hot” (literally), designates when someone is motivated to do something, i.e. “Je suis cho pour sortir ce soir” (“Definitely wanna go out tonight.”)
* Chui: “Je suis”, meaning “I am”.
* dac: “D’accord“, which is “OK”.
* DSL: “Désolé“: Sorry!
* DQP: Acronym for “Dès que possible”, or ASAP (As soon as possible!)
* EDR or MDR: Either one, “Écroulé de rire” or “Mort de rire”, they mean LOL!
* ENTK: “En tout cas”, means “in any case”.
* G: Just like C/c’est, this one stands for “J’ai“, i.e. “I have”. As in “G la N“, I hate something, or “I H8”!
* J C: “Je sais”, meaning “I know”.
* jms: “Jamais”, never.
* JTM: “Je t’aime”, I love you.
* KAN: Phonetic short for “quand“, when.
* KOI29“: What’s up, or “Quoi de neuf”: 2 = de, 9 =neuf.
* Mr6: “Merci”! Thx!
* OK1: “Aucun“, “none” or “no one”.
* Oué: “Ouais“, yeah.
* P2K: “Pas de quoi”, meaning “you’re welcome” (…not “your”!)
* PK: “Pourquoi“, meaning “why”, or “Y”?
* QQN: “Quelqu’un“: Someone or “some1”
* RAS: This abbreviation probably comes from the army: “Rien à signaler”, or “nothing to report”. Nothing new, basically.
* RE: Meaning “I’m back”.
* STP or SVP: “S’il te plait”, “please”.
* TDS: “Tout de suite“, “at once”, or “right away”!
* TJS: “Toujours“, “always”.
* TNKT: Means “T’inquiètes“, or “t’inquiètes pas”, meaning “don’t worry” or “no worries”.
* Tt: Short for “tout”, all.
* V1: “Viens”, come.
* X: Since the same word for “cross” in French, “Croix“, is the same for the verb croire (to believe) for the second, you can use just an X, as in “Crois-moi” or “X moi“, (believe me!)
* Y a: “Il y a”, meaning “there is”.

Bon allez, I tell you à toute mes amis, or if you prefer, “ATT“!